Cheese (wheel) cake November 6, 2010

I made this cake for a friend’s birthday a few weeks ago. She had originally requested a cake made to look like a suckling pig; however, I was pretty sure my skills weren’t up to that challenge! Instead, I decided to make a cake that looked like a cheese wheel, as this was a relatively simple design which would still look effective.

For the cake itself, I baked a chocolate cake using the Delicious Death recipe I’d used before. This is turning into my go-to recipe for dense almost-mud chocolate cake! Following the recipe, I used a boozy dried fruit mixture to act as filling between the two cakes.

I piped a ring of icing around the edge of the bottom cake to help cement the two cakes together, and then crumb coated the cake. I cut out a large slice of cake to act as a cheese slice, and also crumb coated the now-exposed insides where the slice had been.

Next, I coloured my fondant and began laying it on the cake. I only used a small amount of yellow to cover the inside of the cake, and then placed the red over the top, so there was only a small amount of overlap between the two fondant colours. I did the same with the now-removed ‘cheese slice’.

I also added some circles which I’d coloured slightly darker to act as the holes, swiss cheese-style.

Meanwhile, I got to work sculpting some appropriate figures to go along with the cake. I used marzipan for this, rather than fondant, as I’m not sure anyone wants to eat that much fondant! Here’s some of the pieces while they’re drying:

I used an edible marker to add most of the details on the mice, and painted their ears pink with diluted colour gel. Next: the big set up! As I was transporting the cake to my friend’s house, I decided to partly stack it at my house before I left, and finish it off when I got there. I used straws to provide some support for the cheese slice which was to go on top of the main cake. I’m not 100% sure they were necessary, but at the very least they helped to anchor everything in place. I also used one straw that went through the whole cake, from the cheese piece down. I also used the top of this to anchor one of the mice to the cake when I assembled it.

Transport was interesting. I caught the train to my friend’s house and while the train trip itself was uneventful, the walk from the train station to the house proved…interesting. It was one of those freakishly hot days that Melbourne is having at the moment (boiling one day, freezing the next) and I couldn’t avoid walking in the sun. Plus, I was carrying a large board filled with cake, and had a bag on my shoulders with the mice decorations in it!

Surprisingly, everything survived, and I assembled it when I arrived. Here’s the final product:

Very, very cheesy. It came complete with edible birthday card, and the mouse on the top of the cake is holding a glass full of pomegranate martini, one of my friend’s favourite drinks. The cake mostly survived the transport, although it did crack and sag a little – it was sliding around a bit while I was carrying it. However I was still very pleased with the end result and again learned a lot in decorating the cake. Happy birthday, A!

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OMFG!!!
I’m not a cake fan AT ALL but this one’s simply gorgeous!!! I’d just give it pride of place in my house and never, ever eat it.. just look at it every day (which would probably defy the purpose and rob me of some delicious munch…)
It’s a (very yummy) piece of art and I can only applaud the artist!!!!

I really love martini mouse 🙂
I’m not much of a baker but I think I’ll get some marzipan at the weekend and make some eventually edible ‘sculptures’.. used to love that part when I was a kid.. maybe it’s the ‘artist’ in me…
your friends must be incredibly lucky to have you 🙂 🙂 (and I, for your sharing all your wonderful ideas 🙂